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<sect1 id="microsoft.windowsazure">
    <title>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</title>

    <sect2 id="microsoft.windowsazure.introduction">
        <title>Introduction</title>

        <para>
          Windows Azure is the name for Microsoft’s Software + Services platform, an operating
          system in the cloud providing services for hosting, management, scalable storage with
          support for simple blobs, tables, and queues, as well as a management infrastructure for
          provisioning and geo-distribution of cloud-based services, and a development platform for
          the Azure Services layer.
        </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="microsoft.windowsazure.sdk">
        <title>Installing the Windows Azure SDK</title>

        <para>
            There are two development scenario's when working with Windows Azure.
        </para>

        <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
                <para>
                    You can develop your application using
                    <classname>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</classname> and the Windows Azure SDK,
                    which provides a local developent environment of the services provided by
                    Windows Azure's cloud infrastructure.
                </para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para>
                    You can develop your application using
                    <classname>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</classname>, working directly with the
                    Windows Azure cloud infrastructure.
                </para>
            </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>

        <para>
            The first case requires you to install the <ulink
                url="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6967ff37-813e-47c7-b987-889124b43abd&displaylang=en">Windows
                Azure SDK</ulink> on your development machine.  It is currently only available for
            Windows environments; progress is being made on a Java-based version of the SDK which
            can run on any platform.
        </para>

        <para>
            The latter case requires you to have an account at <ulink
                url="http://www.azure.com">Azure.com</ulink>.
        </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="microsoft.windowsazure.apiDocumentation">
        <title>API Documentation</title>

        <para>
            The <classname>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</classname> class provides the PHP wrapper to
            the Windows Azure <acronym>REST</acronym> interface. Please consult the <ulink
                url="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179355.aspx">REST
                documentation</ulink> for detailed description of the service. You will need to be
            familiar with basic concepts in order to use this service.
        </para>
    
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="microsoft.windowsazure.features">
        <title>Features</title>

        <para>
            <classname>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</classname> provides the following functionality:
        </para>

        <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
                <para>
                    PHP classes for Windows Azure Blobs, Tables and Queues (for
                    <acronym>CRUD</acronym> operations)
                </para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para>
                    Helper Classes for HTTP transport, AuthN/AuthZ, REST and Error Management
                </para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <para>
                    Manageability, Instrumentation and Logging support
                </para>
            </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="microsoft.windowsazure.architecture">
        <title>Architecture</title>

        <para>
            <classname>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</classname> provides access to Windows Azure's
            storage, computation and management interfaces by abstracting the REST/XML interface
            Windows Azure provides into a simple PHP API.
        </para>

        <para>
            An application built using <classname>Microsoft_WindowsAzure</classname> can access
            Windows Azure's features, no matter if it is hosted on the Windows Azure platform or on
            an in-premise web server.
        </para>
  </sect2>
</sect1>